Identity verification upgrades anticipate regulators’ move on crypto-anonymity

by Arthur · April 28, 2023

The appeal of cryptocurrency relies on much more than the potential for tax evasion, according to proponents of the digital money. Regulators in the US and elsewhere are preparing to put these claims to the test, Reuters reports.

US Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero said this week that anonymity in the crypto market has become a national security issue, as it is used to finance illegal activities such as ransom attacks on hospitals and critical infrastructure. Speaking at a financial event in London, Romero suggested that the use of software tools (mixers) by crypto companies to effectively anonymize users is not in compliance with relevant regulations, and Congress is considering passing new laws to address “anonymity and digital identity.”

“It is possible for all crypto companies to distance themselves from mixers and anonymity-enhancing technology while providing financial privacy to customers,” says Romero.

Regulators around the world are trying to figure out how best to regulate cryptocurrencies before beginning negotiations on cross-border systems, according to the report. Meanwhile, firms in the jurisdiction are acting to avoid rules, according to the secretary-general of the G20’s financial regulatory coordinator, John Schindler of the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

The FSB is expected to publish final recommendations for crypto regulation soon.

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OCR Labs increases customer onboarding

Some businesses in the crypto sector are already upgrading their identity verification processes. Trading and community platform Coinmetro has tapped OCR Labs to automate KYC processes for more seamless onboarding. The integration of OCR Lab’s document fraud analysis technology

The transition to fully automated IDV took less than 48 hours to implement and also reduced customer churn, according to the company’s announcement.

“OCR Labs has truly comprehensive machine learning with the ability to recognize and analyze different series variations of documents for each country,” comments Coinmetro Compliance Lead Taavi Rihvk. “The fact that OCR Labs’ DFA (Document Fraud Analysis) allows you to detect and distinguish each of these samples is actually very useful for our use because we have customers from all over the world. No matter what variant of ID is presented, if it is forged , DFA will flag it correctly, while a verification specialist might miss it.”

An integration with Coinmetro’s CRM system and the software’s ability to convert text in different languages to that used by CRM were also cited by Coinmetro as advantages of OCR Labs.

Biometric card from CardLab used to secure access for Nymo users

Blockchain-based crypto transfer platform Nymo has integrated a biometric smart card from CardLab to make the crypto wallet user-friendly and avoid the risk of a forgotten password making crypto assets unrecoverable.

Nymo’s remittance strategy involves providing security for both sender and recipient through biometric verification, the company says in the message.

“This card is a perfect fit for Nymo. Nymo’s omni channel concept will be complete, says Nymo CEO Johann Caubergh. “Magnetic stripe, contact or contactless, the innovative CardLab biometric-enabled card is the solution to secure online transactions and can be used as an offline security for shopping. On top of this, CardLab is known for securing contactless cards from hacking, enabling tokenization on a Dynamic Magstripe.”